Hate YouTube ads? Starting October 28, 2015 YouTube will allow you to skip the ads for $9.99 a month.
Not only will you get ad-free content, you will get access to original content from YouTube stars like PewDiePie, Lilly Singh, the Fine Brothers, and more starting in early 2016. You will also get access to YouTube music, and it will replace the YouTube Music Key service.
“This is a major evolution for our platform,” said Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s chief business officer at a press event at YouTube’s L.A. production space. “We’re giving fans a new way to enjoy YouTube.”
Many have tried to sell this as YouTube targeting Netflix, but this seems to be more of a move to go after Vessel a new service that offered YouTube creators a larger cut of ad revenue if they released their content first on their server. Several large content producers on YouTube agreed and started releasing content on Vessel first to mixed reactions from their fans.
At this time little is known about the original content that will be coming from YouTube as part of this deal but they hired Susanne Daniels, a former programmer at MTV, Lifetime, and the old WB network. She will be putting together the new lineup. It is unknown if it will be short videos similar to what they make now or long-form content similar to Netflix.
Would you pay $9.99 for this service?